[of The Ether] It Is No Greater

We All Confidently Believe That There Are At Present, And Have Been From Time Immemorial, Many Worlds Of Life Besides Our Own. . . . [this] May Seem Wild, And Visionary; All I Maintain Is That It Is Not Unscientific.

In Science There Is Only Physics; All The Rest Is Stamp Collecting.

I Have Not The Smallest Molecule Of Faith In Aerial Navigation Other Than Ballooning, Or Of The Expectation Of Good Results From Any Of The Trials We Heard Of. So You Will Understand That I Would Not Care To Be A Member Of The Aeronautical Society.

I Have Not Had A Moment's Peace Or Happiness In Respect To Electromagnetic Theory Since November 28, 1846. All This Time I Have Been Liable To Fits Of Ether Dipsomania, Kept Away At Intervals Only By Rigorous Abstention From Thought On The Subject.

Accurate And Minute Measurement Seems To The Non-scientific Imagination, A Less Lofty And Dignified Work Than Looking For Something New. But Nearly All The Grandest Discoveries Of Science Have Been But The Rewards Of Accurate Measurement And Patient Long-continued Labour In The Minute Sifting Of Numerical Results.